A Look at Taipei Through the Lens of Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain may have left us three years ago now, but in my world, he’s still very much alive.
In the times I’ve went abroad since his passing, Bourdain’s travel philosophy still runs its course through my veins. Like him, I am just as capable of savoring a plate of risotto worthy of one Michelin star on a Friday night and devouring a breakfast bowl of beef porridge for less than a buck the next morning. When I travel alone, I too love wandering along the canals and busy alleyways observing the pulse of daily life at the farmers market. The colorful display of fresh fruits at the market and the obnoxious bickering between two hagglers are just a few examples of what makes those places tick for me. And when it comes to interacting with the locals, I almost get just as into-your-face about it as he does; I love to pester them about their favorite places to eat and their worst pet-peeves about tourists visiting their country.
Something Bourdain and I also share in common is keeping all things bona fide. In the golden (or is it platinum now? I don’t even know) age of social media, it’s easy to fall into a trap of artificial perspectives and wanderlust when it comes to tourism. These days, it’s about the best-looking cafe rather than the whole-in-the-wall serving the meanest cup of Joe to kickstart your day. It might still be about going to those beautiful beaches on the outskirts of town, but the visits have become limited to a bikini photoshoot or TikTok production that basically says, “I came here, and posting these photos and videos will up my social game and validate my existence.” Where has the authenticity gone? Whatever happened to enjoying the moment as is or appreciating the place you’re visiting because you actually want to, not because you want to show someone how much better your life is than theirs? Have we really boiled ourselves down to the “pics or it didn’t happen” mantra for every single exciting thing we do once we get off the plane? I truly believe traveling is so much more than that. If Bourdain were alive today, I know he’d agree with me, too.
The Taipei episode of The Layover with Anthony Bourdain (Season 2, Episode 8) is no exception to his genuine, no BS practice. I watched him unravel the Formosa capital by sampling street food at Raohe Night Market, wandering around DiHua Street for kooky Chinese medicine and Lunar New Year goods, and going shrimp fishing in the Shilin District. He paints Taipei as it is, without that rosy filter some of us travelers visualize foreign places with. I love how he unapologetically describes Taipei as “far from the best-looking city on earth,” because it’s true: it’s not. Much of the architecture here bares scars from its colonial past — from the Spanish, the Dutch, to the Japanese, whom, according to Bourdain, brought over “a lot of ugly-ass buildings and some very bad history.” There’s nothing romantic about the city’s appearance thanks to its rugged façades, smelly alleys, general overuse of plastic, tacky vendor signs, and the common display of overwhelming clutter in pretty much every family-owned business across town. If you want truly untainted, scenic beauty, you’d have to leave the city center for places like Yangminshan, Tiger Mountain, or Maokong. But beneath the “deceiving” looks of it all, Bourdain does bother to highlight the unmistaken friendliness of the locals and the national staple dishes served at non-pretentious eateries, all of which quintessentially define one’s cultural experience in Taiwan. Taipei is more of what I’d call an example of “inner beauty” that needs to be enjoyed close up and in person — not from afar through books, Instagram, or even travel documentaries.
As I watched Bourdain sitting at Jin Chun Fa picking up bone marrow and water spinach with his chopsticks, I’m reminded of just how unique the life I’m living in Taipei right now is. Yes, there’s nowhere else in the world that has more 7-11 convenience stores than trash cans within a one kilometer radius. Yes, there’s nowhere else in the world where you’d see a man selling freshly steamed peanuts from his truck during a massive downpour. And there’s no one else in the world other than Taiwanese people who would think it possible to combine oysters with a touch of tapioca starch, eggs, and Chinese greens to create the most underrated omelette on the planet. Taipei may not be my first-choice Disneyland, but it is still worth (re)discovering on my own terms.
Tony, wherever you are, I’m raising a glass of Taiwan Beer to you tonight. Thanks for sharing the story of my motherland on The Layover. Thanks for inspiring me.
